FanHouse DevardDarling

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Conclusion of the Butt Chiefs. That lousy 2-14 Chiefs squad from 2008 has nowhere to go but up from here, so they will no longer be the butt of everyone's joke. Remember that explosive offense for the NFC Champion, Arizona Cardinals. Well, former offensive coordinator Todd Haley assumes his first head coaching job this season in Kansas City. In other words, the Chiefs offense just became very relevant for fantasy football owners. Sure, Haley still faces a massive challenge in terms of personnel, but you can rest assured that this season, the Chiefs' offense will make plays just like Haley's Cardinals did.

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If the Chiefs have a chance to pull off one of the upsets of the year in Week 1, they need to take advantage of the Patriots' secondary--which is clearly the weak point of the club that went 18-1 last year.

The best way to do that would be to spread the Patriots out, force the undersized group to figure out a way to defend Dwayne Bowe and try to take advantage of nickel back Deltha O'Neal, who was just signed by the team in the past week.

But there's one problem with that plan (well two if you aren't sold on Brodie Croyle)--to do it, you have to have enough wideouts to spread out the Patriots. With the news that Will Franklin and Maurice Price are out for Sunday's game, the Chiefs will dress only three wide receivers.

While Bowe will be able to get some mismatches, it's hard to imagine Devard Darling (20 catches in four pro seasons) or Jeff Webb (31 catches in two seasons) giving the Patriots nightmares. So even though the Patriots weakness is their pass defense, it's likely to be the Larry Johnson show on Sunday.

Maybe what former Ravens third-round wideout Devard Darling needed was the proverbial change of scenery. Or maybe he's nothing more than a No. 3 or 4 NFL wide receiver. That he struggled to make it on the field in Baltimore's anemic offense is indicting, but it's hard to place all the blame on the pass catchers when Kyle Boller is whizzing footballs in the general direction in which they were intended.

Whatever, Darling is now in Kansas City, and he's trying earn playing time on the only AFC unit with bigger questions at wide receiver than Baltimore (the Bears have the league's worst wideouts by miles, in case you're wondering). Second-year player Dwayne Bowe is quarterback Brodie Croyle's go-to guy -- and he should be -- but after that, it's a crapshoot.

The rest of the Chiefs' receiving unit is a bit of a mystery. But Croyle is pretty sure he's spotted the Chiefs' fastest receiver.

"That would probably be Devard Darling," Croyle said. "He can really go. It's one of those things where you don't really notice it until you see the film. He just 'leaves' people."

So there's that. Bowe is primed for another big season, but defenses are sure to roll coverages in his direction, which means that Tony Gonzalez and his protege, Brad Cottam, will play an integral role in the offense (which, frankly, isn't much of a change).

In last week's game in San Diego, Chargers cornerback Drayton Florence crushed Texans quarterback Matt Schaub during an interception return.

Today the NFL levied a $15,000 fine against Florence, and he was not suspended. Texans GM, Rick Smith thought that the fine was too small:


Florence claims he doesn't even remember the play, and that he has to look it up on film. Chargers coach, Norv Turner says he doesn't believe it was intentional.

Patriots tackle Vince Wilfolk received a $12,500 fine for hitting Bills quarterback JP Losman's knees. He claimed it was not intentional, but it sure looked a little suspicious. Losman believed that fine was too low.

So, for all the defenders who might be tempted to take out Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for running up the score, apparently Roger Goodell believes that a hit to the knees is worth $12,500 and a helmet to helmet hit on a quarterback during a change of possession is worth $15,000. Just say afterwards that you didn't mean it.

This makes sense: Baltimore reserve wide receiver Devard Darling was fined $7,500 for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty last Sunday. His crime? Leaping into the stands following teammate Yamon Figurs, who had just returned a punt for six.

Now I understand rules is rules and all that crap, but $7,500? Really? When the league is fining guys five grand for throwing players on their head or grabbing facemasks, 7,500 clams is the going rate for ... leaping in the stands? Jeebus, that's not arbitrary. But it gets better:

"The league, they have their rules, and we have to abide by them," said Darling, who will lose 15 percent of his weekly paycheck to the league. "It was $7,500, man. I'm hurting right now. I won't be jumping into the stands anymore."

Gotta love those regressive taxes. Fair and balanced, baby. If you need further proof of the haphazard nature of punishing these criminals, Darling's teammate, Demetrius Williams, was also assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty Sunday -- for spiking the ball after a reception. His fine? Bupkes. Brilliant.